Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that affect the internal
efficiency of rural primary schools in Tigray region. Attempts were made
whether in - school and out of school factors have an effect on the level of the
internal efficiency of the schools.
In an effort to identify the effect of these factors on the rate of dropout and
repetition, data were gathered from eight sample schools that were selected
randomly and documents from the Ministry of education and Tigray Region
Educational Bureau. The study included 394 students, 112 teachers and 8
school principals. Questionnaires were the instruments of data collection. The
data gathered from documents and through questionnaires were analyzed
using frequencies, percentages and other statistical tools such as spearman
rank order correlation and mean scores.
The findings have indicated that out of school factors like distance between
home and school, students' health problems and problems that were caused
by drought were important factors that significantly affected the rate of
repetition and dropout of school. In - school factors like large class size,
teachers' expectation of their students, preschool education and the absence
of necessary school facilities were also found to have an impact on the rate of
dropout and repetition of students. The out of school factors were found to be
the major ones that have a strong effect on the rate of repetition and dropout
as compared to the in-school factors.
Based on these findings and conclusions drawn, it was recommended that
measures regarding the provision of supplementary food supply to students,
especially to those at lower grades, the construction of new schools in
resettlement areas, provision of preschool education be considered to minimize
the prevailing situation of repetition and dropout.